Castle Hunedoara and the Dracula Myth: Connection or Speculation?

One of the results of the imagological association between the Dracula myth and the real Transylvania is an enthusiastic search for connections between fictional images and real places in Romania. The search for a real model for Castle Dracula has concerned both literary criticism and Dracula tourists for long. This chapter discusses some contemporary tendencies to associate Hunedoara Castle with the Dracula myth, and analyses the representation of this stronghold in Bram Stoker’s sources on Dracula. The issue of whether Stoker was aware of the role of the castle in the history of Transylvania is also addressed. Although the connections between Hunedoara Castle, Bram Stoker’s novel, and Voivode Vlad Ţepes are rather controversial, the castle may be perceived both as a symbol of Transylvanian history and of the Gothic space.